


Wicked Grace

by Talvi (inn_havi)



Series: Stories of Thedas [7]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28614234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inn_havi/pseuds/Talvi
Summary: Stories of Thedas writing challenge day 7/31
Series: Stories of Thedas [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086773
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Wicked Grace

**Author's Note:**

> Stories of Thedas writing challenge day 7/31

It had been a long night. The trip to Ostwick and visiting the Trevelyan had been stressful for Juliette and Cullen, and their moment to breathe was in the invite to join Elias and Josephine (who was invited to attend the Trevelyan ball as a citizen of the Free Marches) at the local inn for drinks.

“Where did you even find these?” Josephine asked Elias, gesturing to her and Juliette’s comfortable change of clothes, acting more as long-john’s than anything else.

“I’m close to the owner of the inn. He lets me play in the tavern, and I find him pretty girls to advertise his inn.” Elias replied nonchalantly, Juliette walking into the room at what she felt like was the wrong time and took a step out the door. “Get back in here!” He called, not even looking at her.

“This isn’t a brothel, is it?” Juliette asked her brother, stepping in and shutting the door.

“No, but pretty girls advertising anything helps business,” Elias looked at her for a moment, then down at the cards on the table. “By the way, I have this job for you-”

“-haha, very funny.” Juliette rolled her eyes and sat at the table that was pulled out from the side of the room, the dresser being pushed to the corner to accommodate all four chairs around the small table.

“Okay, Wicked Grace…” Elias sat down, then took a swig of ale. “I guess I’m the dealer?”

“No, because after you finish that jug you’re going to forget how to count,” Juliette told him, gesturing to Josephine. “Would you do us the honor, Ambassador?” She asked with a smile.

“Just like old times, I see,” Josephine smiled in return, pulling out her coins. It had been a year since the defeat of Corypheus, and it wasn’t the same playing Wicked Grace without all parties in attendance. But this would do.

“No, she’s going to wipe me clean!” Cullen argued, looking at Josephine from across the table.

“Love, no, that was Varric, remember?” Juliette looked at him, then reached down for her handbag just to remember that she didn’t have it on her. It must’ve been back in their room. “Oh, Maker.” She looked at Cullen and gave a sheepish look.

“No, don’t try to look cute.” He warned her, Elias shuffling the cards.

“Cullen, I don’t have anything to bet.” She told him, showing her empty hands as if that was going to prove it any more. When Cullen groaned and accepted, she smiled happily and pecked him on the cheek, looking to Josephine. “Dealer bets first!” She exclaimed, taking the offered money from the poor Ferelden who just wanted to go to bed. “We’ll play as a team so that Cullen doesn’t lose all our money.” She laughed as he scoffed, giving her a look of discontent.

“Okay, very well…” Josephine pondered her options, looking at her cards. “I’ll bet… one silver-no! Five silver! Oh, is that too risky?”

“Five silver it is!” Elias confirmed for her, placing five silver of his own on the table. He looked at Juliette as she did the same. After one round, Juliette and Cullen found themselves with the winnings, Elias henceforth banning them from playing as a team.

“Do you remember the first time we all played together?” Juliette asked, Cullen instantly turning red in the face.

“Wait, I wasn’t there!” Elias exclaimed, looking at her. “What happened?”

“Oh Maker, it was so much fun-”

“Juliette,” Cullen whined a little, embarrassed.

“What? You told Varric not to speak of it again, not us.” Juliette gave him a loving smile, leaning in. “Unless you want me to win the clothing on your back?” She asked with a grin.

“Oh, do what you will,” Cullen laid two silver on the table, watching the others place their bets.

“Anyways, so Cullen highly underestimated Josephine and Varric’s Wicked Grace skills, and ran out of money…” Juliette started, Josephine adding on:

“...And, as our Commander is as hard-headed as our Inquisitor-”

“Hey!”

“-He began to bet his armor.” Josephine kept herself from laughing, throwing her cards down. “This one is mine!”

“Wait, his armor?” Elias looked shocked, not even caring that he just lost that round. “Obviously he got it back, right?” He looked at Cullen, moving his eyes up and down. “Right?”

“Yes, of course I got it back!” Cullen responded, offering to shuffle the deck.

“Although Juliette had to play for it.”

“I lost 50 soveriengs, but it was so worth seeing the look on Varric’s face when I finally beat him.” Juliette laughed, looking at her cards. Oof. Bad hand.

“When he ran out of the tavern in absolutely nothing,” Josephine giggled, a hand to her mouth. “It was so cold that day too!”

Juliette laughed, rubbing his arm lovingly. “We tease, you know.”

“Yes, I’m aware.” He responded, smirking as he placed a bet of three gold. “Just as I’m aware of when you got your whole team absolutely turned around on The Storm Coast.”

“I told Harding not to tell you!” Juliette exclaimed, placing a bet. Go big or go home.

“Oh, I remember that report!” Josephine laughed a little. “You had been with us for maybe three months-that rift at the Conclave wasn’t even sealed yet-and there was a new scout who had drawn the map out for you.” She showed her cards with the others, Elias winning that one. “Darn!” She laughed, shuffling the deck. “He must have been overwhelmed going from Haven to such an… interesting area, that he got lost so many times.”

“That we had to go look for him with the map that  _ he _ had made.” Juliette rolled her eyes playfully, remembering. “It turns out he had everything completely flipped East to West, but we never noticed!”

“What was that agent’s name, anyhow?” Josephine asked, looking at Juliette briefly.

“Uh… Hang on, I’m thinking…” She took a swig of ale, letting it come to her. “I want to say it was Klein or something like that? I wonder what he’s up to now.”

Somewhere, along the lines of trees with other Inquisition scouts helping to rebuild parts of Thedas, he was-as one would guess-lost.

“Probably with the rebuilding efforts?” Josephine suggested, giving Elias his stack of cards. “Your bet.”

“Uh… Oh! Ten sovereigns!”

“ _ Ten _ ?!” Juliette looked at him with surprise, then looked at her hand. Oh, well… “You know what, I raise it to  _ twelve _ .” She looked at Elias with a look of ‘ _ try me’ _ , smirking. The other two dropped their cards, watching the siblings.

“Very well.  _ Trois… Deux…” _

“ _ Un. C’est le mien,  _ Elias,” Juliette smiled, taking the bets. “Oh, did I ever tell you all about the time that Elias broke his leg-”

“Juliette!” He put his hand on the table, then looked at what he had left to bet. “Shit.”

“Out of money?” Juliette asked, looking at him. “We can do this-if you bet something else, then we’ll drop the story.”

He looked at her and, without moving his gaze, took off his shirt and laid it on the table.

“Maker!” Josephine looked away, Cullen sighing. These siblings were too much.

“Very well.” Juliette shuffled the deck this time, then handed them to Josephine to pass out the cards. After reviewing her hand, she smirked, laying out the ten gold she had won earlier.

“Juliette, do you have to bet so much?” Cullen asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Yup.” Okay then.

“So, when Juliette was little-”

“-Which story is this?-”

“-There was this Templar that would come to the estate from time-to-time to check up on our father while our brother was gone for training.-”

“-Elias, no-”

“And Juliette being, I don’t know, six? Seven? Had the  _ biggest _ crush on this twenty-year old who was fresh out of training.” He laughed as Juliette glared at him, giving her a sly smile.

“ _ Biggest _ , huh?” Cullen looked at her, raising an eyebrow. He was met with her making a face at him, then shrugged and listened to the story.

“So she writes him this letter, but she had the  _ worst _ handwriting even for a child,” he began to snicker as he told the story, not even caring that he just lost his shirt to Juliette.

“Please do not take off-Okay that’s pants.” Cullen looked at Juliette as though that alone would convey the message for her to ask him to not derobe, but she just shrugged at him.

“At least it’s not you this time,” Juliette murmured, allowing herself to be put through the retelling of her childhood story.

“So she goes up as he’s about to leave the estate after getting our father his lyrium, and very shyly, in a voice you could barely hear-” he pitched up his voice to imitate her, putting his hands together like a child trying to be cute, “- _ Um… I’m sorry, but I wrote you this… And I hope you like it!” _

“That’s adorable!” Josephine laughed, looking at her blushing friend.

“But the thing is, he couldn’t read  _ any _ of this, so he thought it was a drawing of something!” He cackled, Juliette sighing. “What did he say it was?”

Juliette placed a low bet, leaning back in her chair and murmured her response.

“Sorry, what was that?” He asked, leaning forward.

“This is such a cute cat.” She looked at him, giving a slight pout of her lip as Josephine took the winnings… and placed Elias’ pants on the floor under the table.

“Oh, you poor thing!” Josephine tried to hold back her laughter, Cullen chuckling himself. “One more game-Lord Trevelyan please for all that is good with the Maker do NOT take off your undergarments-and then let’s call it a night?”

“What do you want then?” He asked, sitting down, both of the girls shielding their eyes. “Oh, I’ll stay seated!”

“Is there any more ale?” Juliette asked, looking at her empty tankard. “I’m going to need to be a little bit more drunk if I’m going to get through one more game.”

“Are you even drunk?” Cullen asked, taking and looking into her tankard.

“Not drunk enough.” She shielded her eyes again as Elias in only his small clothes and socks stood, getting her a drink from the small barrel he brought up from the tavern on the first floor. “Yup, definitely not drunk enough.”

“I don’t think you can be drunk enough to be okay with that,” Cullen responded, averting his eyes away from Elias.

“Hey! I’ve worked hard for these bad boys!” Elias told them, hitting his abs and the side of his thighs. “How do you think I get all the girls?”

“You haven’t dated a girl in the past-what-two years?” Juliette raised an eyebrow, taking the tankard from him.

“Oh yes, have you spoken at all with that fellow you were seeing last spring?” Josephine asked, handing him his cards.

“Oh, Arden? No, not after his wife found us in bed. I just decided to leave that alone.” The room fell silent, everyone looking at him. “What, well I didn’t know this time I swear!” He defended himself, putting his hands in the air. “But damn, she punches like Cassandra.”

Josephine gasped, Cullen looking at him with a confused expression. “When did Seeker Cassandra do that?” Josephine asked, genuinely curious and worried about the situation.

“Do you remember that time maybe a month after I got to Skyhold when I asked you how you would want a guy to tell him he likes you?” He asked Josephine, actually a little serious about the question-or at least not as playful as he had been all night.

“Oh, yes, I do.” She nodded. “I was so confused because you just walked into my study, unannounced, and asked me that in front of one of the servants.”

Elias stopped moving, thinking. “Oh, that’s where that rumor came from.”

“Elias!” Juliette whined, looking at her hand and pondering her bet.

“Oh and you had a bruise on your eye… Oh.” Josephine looked at him, feeling a little dumb for just now realizing.

“Well, I was trying to convince  _ someone _ ,” he gave Cullen a pointed look, who merely raised his eyebrows in response as he looked at his cards, “to tell another  _ someone _ ,” he looked at Juliette, who just gave him an unimpressed look, “that he liked them. But I don’t know, I don’t how a young woman would like to be confessed to, so we first went to Cassandra-”

“-and she punched you?” Josephine asked.

“Well, how we went about asking her was not… the most conventional.” Cullen put down a few silver, waiting for the other bets to come in.

“You see, I went up and said ‘hey sweet’-”

“Actually, I think I’m fine not knowing.” Josephine interrupted him, dropping three sovereigns on the table. “Let’s see… Four silver, three sovereign, Juliette is betting five silver, and Elias is-” She stopped, looking at the item placed on the table. “What is that?”

“Oh, that’s a pair of socks. I think they’re still wearable?” He responded casually.

“Right.” She just accepted it. “And three… two… one…” She watched as everyone put their cards on the table, showing Cullen as the winner of the game. “Very well done!”

“That’s the man I’m courting!” Juliette smiled, standing and giving him a peck on the cheek before moving past him.

Elias picked up his socks, turning towards Cullen next to him and giving him a very deep and serious expression. “Please, take good care of these socks… They’ve been with me for… Maker knows how long-”

“Lord Trevelyan, I do  _ not _ want your socks-I don’t even think those are socks!” He told him, standing up to help Josephine put the cards away, just for the smell-fest to be motioned towards him, the blonde man backing up. “Andraste’s tits!”

“Cullen Rutherford, would you please be the caretaker of my socks?” He asked, standing up, both of the women just groaning and turning away from the two. 

“What? No, Elias!” He moved to the side of the room, Juliette opening the door only quickly enough to put the small barrel of ale in the hallway to be collected. “Juliette, please talk some sense into your brother!”

“Hey, you won them fair-and-square!” She replied, just shrugging at him. A bang on the wall that was shared with the room next door caused them all to silence, Juliette yelling a “sorry!” to the poor victim that had to be kept awake from all of the noise. Which Elias ruined by now getting on one knee and holding his socks up as though they were a ring, getting too into the moment.

“Alright, goodnight gentlemen!” Josephine called, the two women stepping through the doorway and shutting it, going into the room across the hall and jumping into bed. “That was so much fun!”

“ _ This _ was the night I needed!” Juliette laughed, smothering her face into the pillow, and then sighing. “I wish we could all play Wicked Grace together like the old times, though.”

“Those were a lot of fun,” Josephine agreed, letting her hair down and sitting on the side of the bed. “Although this was a nice substitute, I must say.”

“I was planning on waiting until Elias decided to get dressed before getting Cullen and going to bed-can I do so here?” Juliette asked, looking at her friend.

“Of course. I was hoping to read for a moment, but feel free to use the room.” She pulled the book she had brought from the nightstand, smiling at the cover page of Hard In Hightown, then cracked it open. She barely noticed Juliette fall asleep, moving over to the chair in the room not long before a knock came at the door. “Yes?” She quietly called, the door cracking open, Cullen poking his head in.

“Forgive the intrusion,” he apologized, looking at her in the dark by the candle on the table. “Is my absolutely insane woman in here?”

“Oh,” she chuckled, gesturing to the bed. “She’s been asleep for maybe half an hour?”

“My apologies,” he moved through the room, going over and shaking Juliette’s shoulder. “Juliette, let’s go to bed now.” He was met with the other pillow being taken and gently hitting him on the side of the head, the blond giving an exasperated sigh before simply scooping her up in his arms. “Goodnight, Lady Josephine.”

“Rest well, you two,” she stood to shut the door behind him, listening to him comment about what a mess Juliette was as she sat down to finish her book. “Like the old times indeed.” She smiled. Yes indeed.


End file.
